1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an animal call and more particularly to an animal call capable of imitating sounds of different animals and producing variable pitch sounds.
2. Decription of the Prior Art
A variety of bird and animal calls have been devised. One type employs a natural, metallic or plastic reed which is vibrated when air is blown across the reed. Most calls of this type produce sound which is generally unsatisfactory for a variety of animal calls and the reeds sometimes crack in very cold weather.
Another common type of animal call is one utilizing an elastic rubber band stretched between two anchor points and across the mouthpiece opening through which air can be blown to vibrate the band and thus produce a sound which is considered by many callers as a more natural sound than that produced by the reed-type calling devices. The use of a single strand vibrating elastic in an animal or bird call has been illustrated in U.S. Pat. 2,182,692 of Harbin; U.S. Pat. No. 2,470,823 of Luch; U.S. Pat. No. 2,584,549 of Carhart; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,030,241 of Gallagher.
The Harbin patent describes a rather elaborate and cumbersome device for changing the tension of a vibrating elastic which is stretched transversely across a single concave cavity so as to enable a caller to vary the pitch of the sound produced from one note to a second note in the manner of the call of a hawk.
The Carhart patent describes a much less complicated call wherein the vibrating elastic is stretched longitudinally across a single concave cavity. It is noted that elastic bands of different widths may be employed to adapt the call for use in calling different kinds of game.
In the Luch patent, a vibrating elastic is disposed longitudinally across flat inner faces of the call. Luch notes that a slight difference in sound can be produced by blowing either in the front or the back of his call because of the different size of air passage around a support. But his call only employs one airway and is not capable of producing multiple ranges of pitch from multiple different-width airways.
Following the Harbin, Luch and Carhart inventions, there were still a number of limitations in bird and animal calls that were not satisfied by any available devices. The existing devices were for the most part capable of producing only one basic sound pitch, or two as in the case of the Harbin invention, and were suitable for calling only one species of animal or bird so that a hunter desiring to hunt one type of game on a particular expedition might have to carry several types of calls with him. Another disadvantage of many call devices, particularly those using a reed, is that they are incapable of producing more than slight variations of pitch to reflect the fact that different animals within the same species produce sounds of different pitch. Therefore, the coyote hunter, for example, might have to carry several different coyote calls, each with a slight difference in pitch, for satisfactory results.
In order to meet the need for a multiplicity of different animal calls in a single instrument Gallagher's call of U.S. Pat. No. 4,030,241 was devised. It provided for two vibrating bands of different sizes to be stretched longitudinally across airways leading to different concave cavities within the call. Thus, two different ranges of pitch could be produced by the call. In addition, slides were provided by which the vibratory elastic bands could be stretched to yield different pitches within a particular range of call being produced. In addtion, the selected pitch of the sound produced may be caused to vary slightly by compressing the mouthpiece opening, reducing its effective size. But the complexity and therefore the expense of that invention have limited its utility and appeal to the sportsman. Furthermore, as with all the vibrating elastic calls, that device lacked a sound-directing bell.
Accordingly, there is a need for a small, simple, and inexpensive single call device capable of calling more than one species of animal or bird. There is also a need for such a calling device having an easily variable pitch which can be varied over a wide range for imitating different species and within a narrower range for imitating different animals of the same species.